(CBS News) A small Massachusetts-based company says it has successfully sequenced a marijuana plant, paving the way for more research into the therapeutic effects of Cannabis – including its potential for treating cancer and inflammatory diseases.

Medicinal Genomics published the raw sequence strings at midnight. The company’s findings have not yet undergone peer review. Medicinal Genomics put the data up on Amazon.com’s EC2 cloud- computing system.The more than 131 billion bases of sequence, which is believed to constitute the largest known gene collection of the Cannabis genomes so far, will be made available to the scientific public sometime this fall.

The breakthrough also raises the possibility that researchers will eventually be able to weed out – no pun intended – the psychoactive effects pot smoking has on people while enhancing the medicinal aspects of Cannabis.

It’s only happenstance but Medicinal Genomics is headquartered both in Marblehead, Mass. and Amsterdam, where the company’s research facilities are found.

“This is the beginning of a more scientific approach to the genetics of the species,” Richard Gibbs, director of the Human Genome Sequencing Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told Bloomberg. “This is not really about marijuana; it’s about pharmacology.”

The present invention concerns pharmaceutical compounds and compositions that are useful as tissue protectants, such as neuroprotectants and cardioprotectants. The compounds and compositions may be used, for example, in the treatment of acute ischemic neurological insults or chronic neurodegenerative diseases.

Definitions in this patent: Cannabinoid

“As used herein, a ‘cannabinoid’ is a chemical compound (such as cannabinol, THC or cannabidiol) that is found in the plant species Cannabis sativa (marijuana), and metabolites and synthetic analogues thereof that may or may not have psychoactive properties.”

Claims Found In Patent:

Claim #1: A method of treating diseases caused by oxidative stress, comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of a cannabinoid to a subject who has a disease caused by oxidative stress.

Claim #15: A method of treating an ischemic or neurodegenerative disease in the central nervous system of a subject, comprising administering to the subject a therapeutically effective amount of a cannabinoid.

Well, apparently the U.S. government was way ahead of the curve on this one. Thank you, President Clinton, for filing this patent (April 29, 1999). Yo!

Maybe you didn’t inhale, but you may have legalized cannabis as a medicine through a back door during your presidency!

The “Assignee” on the patent is the United States of America. This means the people who are its citizens, who fund the government with their taxes, and are represented by it, and who in effect employ it to act as our agent protecting our welfare. The government works for us, and exists to serve us. We, the American people, are the ultimate owners of this patent that it holds for us.

In order to produce the maximum benefit for the most people, in the shortest time, we would like our patent to produce “fast tracked” cannabis-based medicines to treat the following medical conditions.

If you look at the chart below at the 10 o’clock position , “neuroprotection” is just the first benefit of this wonderful plant. We just scratched the surface of its full potential.

And again, thank you for standing up for the people of this country first, not corporations. Thank you so much for looking out for our interests and securing the rights to this medicine so that it may be used by us, the American people.

“In the practice of integrative oncology, the health care provider may recommend medical cannabis not only for symptom management but also for its possible direct anti-tumor effect.”

This, mind you, is after receiving a patent specifically on the point that cannabinoids are powerful anti-oxidative medicines that fight oxidative stress diseases.One of the main causes of cancer is oxidative stress disease.

“Many forms of cancer are thought to be the result of reactions between free radicals and DNA, resulting in mutations that can adversely affect the cell cycle and potentially lead to malignancy.”

Cancer patients need unrestricted access to cannabis products. The drug is self-regulating; if you use “too much,” you fall asleep.

This patent makes the case that cannabinoids should definitely be part of an integrative medical treatment plan for cancer and a multitude of other conditions as per the above statement.

All cannabinoids act as potent free-radical scavengers. Interesting fact: the patent claims that THC is equal to cannabidiol as an anti-oxidant in strength.

This is how hydrogen peroxide gets that bloodstain out of your white shirt; it dissolves the cells by stealing electrons from proteins. Oxidation is to human DNA as rust is to an iron bridge, and as paint protects it from oxygen, cannabinoids are the “paint” that protect your DNA from destruction.

The cannabis plant originated in the mountains at high altitudes in Kurdistan. To protect itself from harmful ultraviolet radiation at in the thin air, the plant developed a chemical defense to protect itself. It evolutionarily selected for cannabinoids, antioxidants which counter this high intensity, less filtered form of sunlight radiation.

Now imagine this chemical reaction happening in your brain, just ripping apart neurons which are your individual brain cells. That is what neuroinflammation is. The good news is that cannabinoids shut down this reaction in the human body.

And radiation sickness, which I’m sure we will find in the Japanese population for years to come.

The government’s public mantra has always been that marijuana is not a medicine in any form, as in Schedule I, which means (a) the drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse; (b) it has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States (Remember U.S. Patent 6,630,507 B1?); and (c) there is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.

While spending billions of dollars to promote its anti-drug meme behind the scenes, it was simultaneously trying to prove to the Patent Office that cannabinoids are powerful anti-oxidative medicines that fight oxidative stress diseases in everyone.

So the crazy Catch 22 is that the U.S. government is now claiming cannabis is medicine, but is also saying it isn’t medicine and that it needs to be against the law.

How can any sane person explain this cognitive dissonance — this bipolar reefer insanity on the part of the government?

This patent contradicts the very definition of “Schedule I.”

And does the government’s patent also hold the cure for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, and many other oxidative stress-related disorders?

Point to remember: this patent is making medical claims for cannabidiol only. THC is cannabidiol’s therapeutic partner, and they work together best in a synergistic fashion, which can be described as “cannabinergic.”

The patent acknowledges that all cannabinoids are therapeutic, but claims very high doses are needed to get the effect. This is an untested negative assumption about marijuana’s ability to change consciousness that has been an ideologically driven bias against cannabis since 1937.

This therapeutic dose would produce unwanted side effects if THC was used in this amount. The high from THC is described as “psychotoxic” in the patent. This is true if THC is not used with cannabidiol, as it is found in the whole plant.

Dr. Julius Axelrod

​From U.S. Patent #6,630,507 B1:

“As referred to herein, the term ‘psychoactivity’ means ‘cannabinoid receptor mediated psychoactivity.’ Such effects include euphoria, lightheadedness, reduced motor coordination, and memory impairment. Psychoactivity is not meant to include non-cannabinoid receptor mediated effects such as the anxiolytic effect of CBD.”

Translation: Euphoria, literally, to “bear well,” is medically recognized as a positive mental, emotional state defined as a profound sense of well-being or wellness.

Lightheadedness, reduced motor coordination, and memory impairment, of course, can be bad. These last three apply to alcohol, high blood pressure meds, and many psychiatric meds in general.

Anxiolytic (anti-anxiety) is good.

Question: How does one separate “anxiety-free” from “experiencing joy and happiness”?

I have discovered that suffering and pain and very overrated, and don’t build character.

Did your last root canal surgery make you a better person? It only works if others in your peer group witness it and reward it within the group.

Pain and suffering damage the immune system.

Joy and happiness and giggling and laughing boost the immune response. When you laugh, your immune system laughs with you, and a laughing immune system is a good thing to have when you are fighting cancer or any serious illness.

“THC is another of the cannabinoids that has been shown to be neuroprotective in cell cultures, but this protection was believed to be mediated by interaction at the cannabinoid receptor, and so would be accompanied by undesired psychotropic side effects.”

Here’s what happens when THC is used without its partner, cannabidiol.

Intravenous THC and Cannabidiol Experiment

What anti-marijuana researchers do is isolate and give pure THC only to test subjects, which in large amounts can cause psychosis-like symptoms. Then they claim marijuana causes psychotic behavior.

Both THC and cannabidiol are both equal in strength as antioxidants. But THC gets you high, which disqualifies it as medicine.

A medicine that makes you laugh is bad?

The patent made it sound like getting high — or should I say having a marijuana-induced “peak experience,” which leads in time to varying degrees of self-actualization — is a bad thing.

The “high” is therapeutic in its own right, being that cannabis is an entheogen drug and not an intoxicant. It can’t be included in the intoxicant category due to the fact that it is not toxic, and has never caused a recorded death directly from its use.

The change in consciousness induced by the THC/cannabidiol combo is anxiolytic, anti-depressive, and antipsychotic in nature. A cancer diagnosis with harsh chemo and radiation produces intense periods of anxiety and depression through the long course of treatment.

So let me get this part straight: the serious untoward side effects of cannabis are red eyes, lightheadedness, intense bouts of uncontrollable enlightened laughter, intense hunger followed by periods of deep mystical introspection, followed by deep sound sleep.

In short, happy, hungry and sleepy.

Cannabis is not an intoxicant. It is an entheogenic substance. Think altruism, group bonding and cooperation, nonviolence and sharing. Think Woodstock!

“Splendid by Law! Declaring Law, truth speaking, truthful in thy works, enouncing faith, King Soma! … O [Soma] Pavāmana, place me in that deathless, undecaying world wherein the light of heaven is set, and everlasting lustre shines … Make me immortal in that realm where happiness and transports, where joy and felicities combine.” ~ from the Rig Veda, the “Creator of the Gods.”

I believe if you live long enough, through many decades, absorbing the tragedies of the human condition, you have a high probability of developing a type of “generalized life PTSD.” It’s part of the psychological profile of aging, and it can’t be helped.

Life wears you down over time.

Cannabis is just a milder, non-toxic form of MDMA, which is helping some of our combat vets who return home with PTSD.

Many who are lucky enough to survive cancer go on to develop a “cancer PTSD” syndrome that will always be there.

“Radicals (often referred to as free radicals) are atoms, molecules, or ions with unpaired electrons on an open shell configuration. Free radicals may have positive, negative, or zero charge. With some exceptions, the unpaired electrons cause radicals to be highly chemically reactive. Radicals, if allowed to run free in the body, are believed to be involved in degenerative diseases and cancers.

The antioxidants give an electron to the free radical so its outer shell is complete. If not, the free radicals degrade your DNA by plucking electrons from its structure. This damages the correct code for making new proteins that cells use to rebuild; this process is called “oxidation stress,” which means your cellular DNA is under attack by highly reactive chemicals.

What causes this oxidation?

• X-rays and all forms of radiation, even sunlight.

• Cancer treatment: chemotherapy, radiation treatment. From the patent: “The invention includes methods for using cannabinoids in subjects who have been exposed to oxidant inducing agents such as cancer chemotherapy, radiation, and other sources of oxidative stress.”

• Chemicals in our water and air that are toxic to cells. We live in a close bio-system; anything we dump down the drain winds up in the food chain, in the water we drink, and in the air we breathe.

It’s the sum total of every chemical and radiation assault against your DNA at the cellular level, inside the nucleus of your cells, that you don’t see. This damage causes mutations in cells that lead to abnormal cell growth and cancer.

Medical Marijuana Inc is pleased to announce completion of a draft for a preliminary petition to the Federal Government to obtain a DEA sanctioned License to cultivate marijuana for medicinal purposes. In the US there are now 15 States which recognize the medicinal benefits of marijuana and cannabis related products (containing THC, the psycho-active ingredient) for various medical uses. Connecticut may soon be the 16th State to approve medical marijuana.

The Drug Enforcement Administration told Legalization Nation in an e-mail last week that 5 unnamed companies now hold licenses to grow cannabis in the United States. The DEA and enforcement agencies are examining a potential expansion of the medical marijuana industry along with a new acceptance by the Federal Government of the medical benefits. Nationwide, increasing numbers of Doctors are prescribing marijuana and related products for their patients and seeing their patients receiving benefit.

To further illustrate this expansion, (via a letter to the East Bay Express) the DEA revealed that “there are 64 active DEA registrations” (reflecting 55 companies) for manufacturers that have listed drug code 7370 (THC, Delta-8 THC, Delta-9 THC, dronabinol and others) and drug code 7371(TETRAHYDROCANNABINOL, ORGANIC) on their DEA record. In other words, 55 companies have active licenses for producing organic THC (meaning they are growing medicinal marijuana). These reports contradict the widespread belief that there is only one legal marijuana farm in America, operated under the DEA for research purposes.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers are watching this emerging trend of medicinal marijuana benefits to patients in the hope of bringing generic THC products to new market. For Pharmaceutical companies to bring generic THC products to market, the DEA would have to move organic THC down from Schedule I, where it is now, to a Schedule III classification, the same level of synthetic THC (Marinol). According to DEA records, pharmaceutical companies have requested just such a rescheduling. Should this rescheduling occur, it would green-light a new generation of prescription marijuana extract-to-pill farms.

The federal government has reportedly boosted its marijuana production capability by 900 percent to 4.5 million grams, according documents obtained by Americans for Safe Access. The most famous federally approved pot grower, Dr. Mahmoud El Sohly, has also testified he has begun legally selling THC extracted from his Mississippi farm to a substantial drug company.

Medical Marijuana Inc realizes that “full transparency in this industry” is a must, especially for investors in the growing number of publicly traded companies’ shares in the industry. MJNA and CannaBANK seek to provide the public with information on changing Governmental regulatory actions that may affect our businesses. As related in previous press releases, MJNA is dedicated to expanding available medical marijuana benefits to patients through science, such as its cannabinoid extraction process.

ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA INC

Our mission is to be the world’s premier cannabis and hemp industry innovators, leveraging our team of professionals to source, evaluate, invest in and purchase value-added sustainable companies, while allowing them to keep their integrity and entrepreneurial spirit. We strive to create awareness within our industry, pay homage to the visionaries and activists of the past and present, provide the platform from which the industry can emerge into a global sustainable economy for all. Medical Marijuana Inc recognizes the vast and unequaled opportunities that exist in the rapidly expanding hemp and medical marijuana industries. The scientific recognition of cannabis has brought legalized marijuana use to the forefront of mainstream discussion, thus opening the door for safe and lucrative investment opportunities.

Thousands of people are thought to become qualified medical cannabis patients each month in California, joining an estimated 500,000 in the state with a doctor’s recommendation for the rehabilitated herbal remedy. Clubs say they’re seeing more women these days, and patients now range from the San Francisco financial district suit and tie crowd to the tie-dyed homeless on Telegraph. As the industry transitions from quasi-speakeasy to chain bank, there are a lot of new rules to follow. Legalization Nation polled some of the leadership at leading Bay Area dispensaries in a look at norms in the fast-changing climate.

1) Have some standards.
Do some research online and note dispensary ratings. Read reviews and ask for personal references. Expect a high quality of service, including cleanliness, knowledgeable, friendly staff, and a positive vibe. Jennifer Thompson, ombudsman for Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, said she sees tense, fearful newcomers every day who’ve had a bad experience at another club, or in the black market. If it feels sketchy, take your business elsewhere. It’s a buyer’s market.

2) Have ID.
Most dispensaries will ask for a valid state identification and a valid doctor’s recommendation before you’re allowed in the door. Berkeley Patient’s Care Collective owner David Bowers said that means a current one. A specialist can write a recommendation for cannabis under California state law for “cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.” They usually last a year. Thompson said out-of-state patients can now access Harborside with a recommendation from a California physician.

3) Project the right attitude.
Don’t be furtive. Be polite. Look people in the eyes. Establish trust by learning names. Think of it like a bank or a pharmacy. Kelsey Schnack, floor manager for San Francisco dispensary SPARC, said staff asks customers to take off hoodies or sunglasses before they enter, though patients can leave on hats and beanies. “It’s about making staff and patients feel safe,” Schnack said, as opposed to feeling like someone’s about to rob the place.

Clubs can be relatively wholesome, positive places, compared to, say, a bar on a Friday night. “People feel good when they come in here,” Schnack said. “Some of our security team has worked in bars and it’s such a different environment from what they’re used to. People who come in are really respectful of us and what we’re doing.”

4) Expect to fill out some paperwork.
Generally, first-time patients have to become members of the collective, where they’ll learn some rules of the road. Read the paperwork.

5) No cell phones.
Phones are distracting, Bowers noted. Schnack said they pose a wide array of safety and privacy problems. Patients don’t want photos of them on the Web. Security doesn’t want robbers coordinating an attack, or drug dealers setting up black market sales from the counter line.

6) Feel free to ask questions, but have an idea of what you want.
A lot of first-time visitors are so overwhelmed by their options Harborside assigns two staff members to give them a tour of the facility, and the menu. “I love it when someone comes in here and is able to ask questions,” Schnack said. “We have the knowledge here to help educate them on what has worked for other people.”

7) Respect other’s privacy.
Patients at the counter can disclose private medical information about serious illnesses like cancer and AIDS. Give them their space so they can feel comfortable, Schnack said.

8) Don’t go crazy your first time.
Berkeley Patients Group spokesperson Brad Senesac said he discourages patients from buying an ounce, a Volcano vaporizer, and some edibles on their first trip. Over at BPCC, “We recommend a small amount,” Bowers said. “Medical cannabis users should model and reward responsible use and never use cannabis as an excuse for irresponsible behavior.”

9) Observe on-site consumption rules.Some people can’t use pot at home, or in their rental, so a few dispensaries allow for on-site usage. Respect the written rules. There’s no sharing medication at BPG, for example. Vaporizers should be set around 375 degrees. Don’t make a mess, and if it’s busy, don’t hang around for longer than a half hour or so. If it’s not busy, feel free to kick back and bring a book, Schnack said.

10) Be a good neighbor.
Dispensaries have to operate at higher standards than the average business to survive, and customers are their ambassadors. Don’t smoke pot in front of or anywhere around the dispensary, Bowers said. Don’t blast music from your car, or smoke pot in the parking lot, Senesac noted. Don’t double-park, jaywalk or park in other businesses’ parking spots, said Thompson. And don’t litter, Schnack said. “We never want our neighbors to feel uncomfortable we are a medical cannabis dispensary,” she added. Clubs like to keep foot traffic down. Harborside has a limit of two visits per day, to decrease traffic and diversion. Senesac also noted that BPG patients can’t purchase more than two ounces per day.

“This would be the equivalent of allowing Vitamin C to be legal and to be marketed, while prohibiting and incarcerating those who actually possess an orange, It doesn’t make any sense” ~Paul Armentano (Deputy Director, NORML)The DEA plans to reschedule THC so that it can be prescribed by pharmaceutical companies in the form of “natural Marinol” …. They’re admitting THC (the natural substance in marijuana) has medicinal value, but continue to argue that marijuana still has no medicinal value. Sound contradicting?